reclaiming old and worn estate pipes

Oddball 9438 – Legacy

I have a number of GBD 9438’s in my collection and that is probably my most favorite shape. I thought that I had seen all of the different grades and finishes, but this Legacy model is a first. The Legacy finish is one of the lower grades. The Pipepedia site has the description of the Legacy, from the 1976 catalog as:

At 60 grams, the weight is average for a 9438 but it is easily the longest 9438 in my collection.

The brass rondell and straight line “London, England” stamping identify as being made prior to the merger with Comoy’s in 1982 (or 1981). The pipe had some teeth marks on the stem, but the briar looked nearly new. The pipe was delivered with some mild cake and there were some small teeth indentions on the bottom of the stem.

I reamed the bowl and gave it a light buff with White Diamond and several coats of carnuba wax. The stem was soaked in a mild Oxy-Clean solution, with a dab of grease on the rondell. I used the Stew-Mac black super glue product and accelerator to fill the teeth marks on the bottom of the stem and one small nibble on the top button ride. Those areas were sanded smooth with 800 grade paper, followed by 1,000 and 2,000 grade paper. During this process, the rondell fell off, a first for me. I used a tiny drop of the black superglue to set it back in place. Once dried, the stem was buffed with White Diamond and Meguiars Plastic polish.

As shown in the “before” photos, the military style stem was not seated fully against the shank. After cleaning the interior of the shank, the stem was able to seat fully.